SCORES of young people, adults, representatives of non-governmental organisations and civil society gathered at the Pegasus Hotel on Monday for the “Guyana International Youth Conference against the Contagion of Violence 2012. Many voices one cause; stand up and be counted; let your voices be heard; breaking the silence say no to violence; understanding abuse and moving forward; breaking the silence and becoming a survivor; these were some of the messages that were emblazoned on the many banners that represented the cause of the conference.
The conference was organised by Ms. Dianne Madray and Sukree Boodram, two women who have decided to channel their energies towards working with children and ensuring that there is a massive decline or total death to the issue of youth violence by forming the Caribbean American Domestic Awareness (CADVA).
The conference is aimed at ensuring that young people can have exchanges and discuss the issues of violence at length. Yesterday the young people also received addresses by several specialists in the field of counselling, care-giving and other areas of specialty that is usually needed after someone is exposed to abuse be it physical, verbal, domestic or sexual.
In her address to the more than 200 who had gathered, Ms. Boodram said that she has realised that to make change happen it must begin from the bottom up and that is why they decided to target children. She said that this approach lasts longer, as children then are allowed to grow with the change and with the knowledge imparted to them.
She that the Caribbean American Domestic Awareness (CADVA) is not a one man show but rather a community effort and its life and existence lies in the hands of the community that take part in the workings of the group. He said that all ideas are discussed and implemented and explored when necessary. Ms. Sukree Boodram explained that the organisation will begin to walk and go places literally and figuratively where no one has ever gone before. She said that should the community sit and become silent then the entire effort of Caribbean American Domestic Awareness will be a lost and failed one.
According to her the group or its individual members are not politically aligned as it relates to the work and everyone is expected to adopt that same approach when seeking to be a part of the operation and bigger programme of CADVA. She said that to bring politics, personal developmental agendas and personal publicity stunts will be an indication that those persons are no longer interested in being a part of the movement.
Boodram acknowledged the absence of more than 60 young people from the troubled mining town of Linden who were not able to be a part of the conference because of their inability to leave the community as a result of the present unrest  there.
The co-founder said that the organisers of the conference are therefore working out a strategy to have the children of Linden involved in the initiative and are likely to see Linden, after the unrest having their own conference where they can have the exposure their Georgetown counterparts have had.
After formally introducing herself to those gathered and the aim of the organisation, Ms. Boodram shared her personal experience in which her son, now a 20-year-old was born into an abusive family and he was forced to grow up seeing his mother receiving all sorts of abuse by his father.
She spoke of her son receiving counselling and telling counsellors that one of his wishes is for his mother to never again marry another man because of the abuse she was subjected to. She explained that one of the things she was not able to give to her son as he may have required it was TIME. She said that as her son grew he began developing an identity of his own which included drinking, and getting into brushes with the law.
In the end Ms. Boodram said that at the moment the family is now coming together and her son continues to receive counselling to deal with the issues he witnessed at a young age that obviously had a negative impact on his life.
Meanwhile, in his address to the young people, United States Ambassador to Guyana, Brent Hardt lauded the efforts of the two dynamic women and praised each and everyone of the young people for attending the conference be it through their organisations or individually.
The Ambassador said that it was also refreshing to see that there has been a broadened approach from just tackling domestic violence only to tackling youth violence. He said that his country is pleased that such a programme has been invented to help people deal with the issue from an early stage and which is expected to ultimately decrease the scourge of all forms of violence in years to come.
He lauded the efforts of both Dianne Madray and Sukree Boodram and all the volunteers as a selfless move that will go a far way in changing the way people view and address the issue of violence and more youth violence. Mr. Hardt added that it was nice to see persons giving of their time for such a worthy cause and said that the United States thanks the organisers for the initiative.
He said that there is the view that the issue of violence is a men’s issue, but cautioned that men themselves are sometimes subjected to violence of all forms just as women and children. The Ambassador said that at no time should anyone think he or she has a right to bring harm to another person.  According to Mr. Hardt the presence of the many young men at the conference was commendable.
He said that recovering from violence, especially domestic violence, is a long process but it has to be done and  systems must be in place to facilitate it. He said that the impression and vulnerability of domestic violence are experienced in the children.
He closed off his presentation by letting the young people know that their presence at the event showed that they were leaders and youth leaders are the people who are and usually make the difference in the communities, families and by extension the world.